Melbourne Heart head coach John van ‘t Schip has declared reaching the Hyundai A-League as the minimum objective for his side heading into the upcoming season.
Melbourne Heart head coach John van ‘t Schip has declared reaching the Hyundai A-League as the minimum objective for his side heading into the upcoming season.
After narrowly missing a debut finals berth last campaign, a place in the top six is foremost on the agenda for the team at Heart HQ, with attentions firmly fixed on making a strong start to the season.
Van ‘t Schip believes securing positive results in the opening rounds of the Hyundai A-League will ensure the team is on track to make an improvement on last season.
“Finals is the minimum. We hope to grow within the season, try to make a good start, so we get belief in what we are doing,” he said.
“From there on, everything is possible. We have a team that can compete until the end. All the teams are close, so we have to be strong.”
With new recruits David Williams, Mate Dugandzic and Fred bolstering the Club-s attacking third, Heart is set to be among the most exciting teams in the competition during the upcoming season.
And van ‘t Schip is confident his side will be among the goals after struggling to find the back of the net last season.
“We have more players who can score goals now as well – Dugandzic, Williams, Alex Terra, Maycon. Terra in particular spent more than half the season injured last year,” van ‘t Schip said.
“If we can get him fit to play 75 per cent of the games, then he will help; he-s a good player, and a goal scorer.
He added: “There was a specific reason for our failure last term. If you have problems in creating or scoring goals, then confidence in the team becomes fragile.
“And because of the way we play, we gave away too much space. Defensively, we have to be sharp so maybe we will sit a bit deeper this year with more space up front and try to profit from the added pace we have.”
